Instead of offering an on-ramp to join his pissed-off posse, he calls Mayor Karen Bass \u201cBasura\u201d \u2014 trash \u2014 and her supporters \u201cBassholes,\u201d insults that his followers share and like on social media by the thousands.<\/p>\n
Instead of enlisting surrogates to push an uplifting vision for L.A.\u2019s future, Pratt elevates those who speak of the city as a West Coast Chernobyl.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s running on a message of righteous fury as a survivor of the Palisades fire, in an era when many Angelenos feel pessimistic<\/a> about what\u2019s next. In recent months, he\u2019s raised funds at a faster pace<\/a> than Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman and delivered a decent debate performance<\/a>, while holding strong in the polls with two weeks left before the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n Now that Pratt has shown his electoral quest isn\u2019t a farce, it\u2019s time he shows all Angelenos that they can rely on a Republican entertainer with no political experience to head a largely progressive, multicultural metropolis.<\/p>\n Instead, he continues to double down on his doomsday message, exciting the type of people who have been whining that L.A. is a \u201cLost Cause\u201d since the days of the Watts riots.<\/p>\n They\u2019re the ones depicting Pratt in AI-generated videos<\/a> as a superhero \u2014 Batman, Luke Skywalker and a gladiator, among others \u2014 battling Bass, cast as a clown, Darth Vader, the Joker or as herself handing out needles to half-crazed homeless people. <\/p>\n They hound anyone who points out that L.A. is nowhere near as apocalyptic as they make it out to be, when homicides are at their lowest since the 1960s<\/a>, burglaries are down 30% from last year and unsheltered homelessness has dropped two years in a row<\/a>. They follow Pratt\u2019s example and call unhoused people with drug problems \u201czombies\u201d and \u201cbums\u201d while depicting the L.A. of the past as a problem-free playground out of \u201cThe Wonderful World of Disney\u201d that derailed once Democrats took over.<\/p>\n Not all of Pratt\u2019s supporters are this obnoxious. But he repeatedly platforms the worst of them and shows no signs of stopping. That nihilism might sell books and gain followers \u2014 but it\u2019s no way to prove to Angelenos he\u2019s serious about fixing anything other than his reputation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, left, poses with a supporter during a campaign event in Sherman Oaks.<\/p>\n (Etienne Laurent \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Anyone who truly loves the city complains about it even on its best days. They realize L.A. can never be perfect, and that\u2019s what makes it so wonderful. When people try to better their part of paradise, everyone benefits.<\/p>\n But Pratt needs to realize that Angelenos don\u2019t want the city to be torn down, as dissatisfied as they may be. Criticizing the status quo is necessary \u2014 but waging a campaign of humiliation, a la Donald Trump, isn\u2019t how to heal L.A. It won\u2019t get large swaths of the city on your side, and it can\u2019t spark the true change City Hall so desperately needs.<\/p>\n Instead, we get people like former Times contributor Meghan Daum \u2014 who now calls herself the \u201cofficial Liberal Elite for Pratt\u201d \u2014 gushing in the Atlantic about how her man is the \u201cfactory-reset option<\/a>\u201d to Make L.A. Great Again. <\/p>\n Resetting to when, Meghan? The 2000s of the Great Recession? The 1990s of anti-immigrant policies<\/a>, the Northridge earthquake<\/a> and the riots<\/a>? The 1980s and its out-of-control gangs<\/a>? The white flight<\/a> of the 1960s? The 1950s of legal segregation and hideous smog<\/a>?<\/p>\n Or just to the days when the problems that have long racked L.A. didn\u2019t lap up to the denizens of Prattland \u2014 until they did?<\/p>\n These are the people who stayed largely silent as Trump unleashed ICE goons across Los Angeles last summer<\/a>. They said nothing about housing affordability and violent crime in the years when those issues primarily afflicted South L.A. and the Eastside. They didn\u2019t have a fit about homelessness until encampments spread beyond Skid Row.<\/p>\n Pratt\u2019s loudest fans fundamentally loathe modern-day L.A., and that should chill all other Angelenos. These haters would be his primary constituents and populate his brain trust if he does beat Bass \u2014 and if he lets them take over, heaven help the City of Angels.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not discounting Pratt\u2019s chances of winning \u2014 he\u2019s too savvy a media pro to fully flop. I knew Bass and Raman would misjudge the anger of Angelenos, fail to capitalize on that rage and find themselves on the defensive against Pratt\u2019s populist push. I also figured he would eschew politeness for the demonizing that has tainted past L.A. elections, from Yorty\u2019s mayoral campaigns of the 1960s to the San Fernando Valley secession movement<\/a> a generation ago to the continued charges of communism thrown at the democratic socialist wing of the City Council.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t blame Pratt for jumping into the race after his life was upended. And I sure don\u2019t underestimate L.A.\u2019s middle-class malaise, long a reactionary force in city politics with a winning track record that spans decades. But I can\u2019t trust the guy and his crew for just now beginning to say they care about reforming L.A., when all he has fought for is his dark idea of the city.<\/p>\n And if you think L.A. needs a complete makeover, then you probably never really loved it in the first place.<\/p>\n![\"Mayoral](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778981529_44_.jpeg\")
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